


Topping from the bottom

by kaige68



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: AO3 1 Million, Community: 1_million_words, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-17
Updated: 2014-02-17
Packaged: 2018-01-12 20:21:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1198404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaige68/pseuds/kaige68
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Grace asks her father to explain a term to her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Topping from the bottom

**Author's Note:**

  * For [haldoor](https://archiveofourown.org/users/haldoor/gifts).



> Written for [](http://haldoor.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://haldoor.livejournal.com/)**haldoor** 's weekend challenge. The prompt was _Topping from the bottom_ , and sure I didn't take it where she meant it to go but... Also, this is not beta read.

“What?” Danny felt… well he now knew what people meant when they said gobsmacked. He blinked at his daughter, felt a bit owlish. He really had no idea how to answer her question, so he just repeated “What?”

“I heard someone say it and I couldn’t get it from context. So I… Do you know what it means?” She looked innocently up at him.

He felt his mouth open and close a couple of times, as if some part of his brain wanted to answer her and some other part of his brain thought better of it. Finally a memory occurred to him.

Danny sat at the kitchen table and patted at the spot where Grace typically sat. “Do you remember my Aunt Cathy?” At her nod, he continued. “She and my mother were always trying to outdo each other. I guess it’s a sister thing. They always think the other one has it easier, is prettier, smarter, more fun. My mother thinks that things always go Cathy’s way. Your aunts do it too, kills me to listen to it. You should feel lucky you don’t have a sister.”

“And?” She hedged when her Danno stopped talking.

“I remember this one day at my Gram’s, Aunt Cathy still lived there, the whole pack of us had come by for the day and everyone wanted a snack, so my mother grabbed … yoghurts I think they were. Nobody ate from plastic at my Gram’s, nobody, so my mother was scooping out the contents into bowls for each of us when Cathy took her own container, flipped up upside down on her plate. She thwacked it twice with a spoon, then pulled the plastic container up. There was this perfect cup-shaped mound on her plate with cherries on top that were now dripping down the side. Uncle Matty and my sisters started whining about how they wanted theirs like Aunt Cathy’s, not already mixed up in their bowls. I still remember the smirk on Aunt Cathy’s face, and the exasperation on my mother’s.”

Steve took a seat at his customary place at the table. “So are you saying that in their typical older sister versus younger sister relationship, that your Aunt Cathy was topping from the bottom?” Steve’s smirk reminded Danny very much of the aunt they were discussing.

“No, Steven. I’m saying that the cherries were the topping from the bottom of the snack container. That is what I’m saying.”

Steve laughed loudly.

Grace looked confused. “I don’t think that’s what the conversation I overheard was about. It didn’t sound like a snack or dessert. They didn’t say anything about cherries.”

“It could be strawberries, or pineapples, or even honey, I guess.” Danny was desperate to keep the conversation PG rated.

Steve’s laugh became a roar. Tears were being wiped from his face by the time he was calm enough to speak again. “ _Topping from the bottom_ Is a term about the non-dominant person in any relationship taking charge for a small amount of time, giving instruction or being assertive. It very rarely has to do with upside-down snack foods.”

The look on Grace’s face… it seemed contemplative for a moment, and then…. Grace turned bright red, her eyes went wide and moved quickly from Danny to Steve. Back and forth, again and again, as though she were watching tennis. Then she jumped up out of her seat and just about ran from the room.

Danny closed his eyes and rubbed at his temple. “You know that whoever said that in front of her was talking about us, right?”

“I... um… Damn.” Steve looked less humored than he had a moment before.

“And I’m certain that she’d rather have the mental image of fruit on the bottom yoghurt than the one you just gave her.”

“I am not going to be able to look her in the eye. Ever.”

“Should have thought of that before you started laughing at my story, huh?” Danny folded his arms across his chest and sat back. “It will be a long time before there are any snack cups in your future. And a very, very, long time before you get another taste of the toppings from the bottom.”


End file.
